Grecula to use mental health defense at bomb trial

Two experts: Upper Mount Bethel man who offered to sell weapon had delusion.

July 26, 2005|By Joe McDonald Of The Morning Call

A Bangor area man facing charges he tried to sell bomb technology to al-Qaida will use a mental health defense at trial, his lawyer said Monday.

The defense will present testimony that Ronald Grecula, 68, suffers from a "grandiose delusion disorder," public defender Brent E. Newton said in court papers filed in federal court in Houston.

Newton said Dr. Victor Scarano, director of Baylor University's forensic psychiatry services, will testify as an expert witness for the defense about the mental disorder.

Another expert witness, Robert Curl, a professor of chemistry at Rice University, will testify about the "scientific basis or lack thereof underlying the statements" Grecula made to undercover law enforcement agents about bombs he could make, Newton said.

Newton has said Grecula could not have accomplished his "ridiculous" plot. He also has said Grecula's actions amount to a "lot of grandiose talking."

Jury selection in the trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 31.

Grecula was arrested by the FBI in May after he met with two men in Houston he believed to be representatives of al-Qaida. They turned out to be working for the FBI.

Grecula bragged to them that he could build a bomb that would level city blocks in Washington, D.C., and suggested attacks on the Federal Reserve in New York and the Super Bowl, according to FBI testimony last month.

He allegedly claimed that with his knowledge of alternative energy sources, he could help al-Qaida build an explosive device that would be second in power only to nuclear bombs.

Grecula allegedly expressed strong anti-American sentiments to the undercover officers. He said he hated the government, partly because it removed his children from his custody.

In 2000, Grecula kidnapped his two children during a custody dispute with his second wife and took them to the Mediterranean island of Malta for 14 months. He spent a year in prison on the kidnapping charge.

Agents searching Grecula's premises in Upper Mount Bethel Township after his arrest found about 2 pounds of lithium nitrate and a mercury switch, both of which can be used in explosives, according to FBI special agent Shauna Dunlap, a Lehigh Valley native.

Federal agents also have videotape of Grecula repeatedly expressing hatred of the United States and bragging he could build a bomb that could level whole city blocks.

Grecula is being held without bail because a judge has determined that he's a flight risk and a danger to the nation. If convicted, Grecula could get up to 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.